What we do?

In a nutshell, at Snowboarding Profiles, we test, review and compare snowboards and other snowboard gear in addition to helping people pick the best snowboard gear, specifically for them.

We are completely independent and have no brand biases. We test and rate it as we feel it.

But we don’t just randomly ride gear and write down a few things about our experience. We have a robust testing system in place that allows us to derive all the intricacies of that snowboard (or bindings, boots etc), and test it in a way that we can compare it to other gear as accurately as possible.

It’s a controlled, consistent testing process, so that our results are as accurate as possible (more on our testing process below).

Gear Recommendations

Further to that, we offer what we think are the best recommendations for gear going around. We try to take everything into account to help people choose the best possible gear – from:

• riding style (i.e. do you like to ride trees? Powder? Park? Etc); to
• where you ride (big mountain? Small hill? Is it often icy where you ride?); to
• your ability level; to
• your physical characteristics (height, weight, foot size, strength/athleticism)

Because we test so much gear and compare it all – and because we’ve been making recommendations for many years and have been improving our processes constantly, we are confident in our ability to recommend the right gear. It’s never going to be perfect 100% of the time, but we have the processes in place to give us the best chances of getting you on the right gear – for you.

And that distinction is important – it has to be the right gear for you – not for your friend, brother, mother, sister – or the pro you see at the X games – it’s gotta be right for you.

Our Testing Process

We have a robust, thorough testing process that has been tweaked and fine tuned over the years.

Every board, binding boot etc that we test is tested in a controlled way – and compared to a control setup.

The scores that we use for each snowboard, binding, boot etc are derived by comparison to our control setup. It’s not an exact science, as there is always some subjectivity involved but it’s as close to a scientific experiment as we can possibly make it.

Categories and Scoring System

All the snowboard gear that we test is organized into categories. Whilst every snowboard is different and pigeonholing it within a certain category can’t tell you everything about a snowboard, it’s useful to categorize. It helps to drastically reduce the number of suitable options for your riding style.

Once you figure out the category you belong to, it narrows down your options nicely.

You can think of our categories as 3 broad categories of freestyle, all-mountain and freeride. However, it’s not that useful to be that broad, because within those broader categories, there is still a lot of variety of snowboards. And you could still very well pick an ill-suited snowboard if you were to pick from such broad categories.

For boots and bindings things can be a bit broader, but it’s still important to break these off into categories as well.

So, we break those 3 categories down further into the following:

Snowboards

• Beginner
• Intermediate
• Freestyle
• All-Mountain Freestyle
• Aggressive All-Mountain Freestyle
• All-Mountain
• Aggressive All-Mountain
• Mellow Freeride
• Freeride

Bindings

• Beginner
• Freestyle
• All-Mountain
• All-Mountain-Freeride
• Freeride

Boots

• Beginner
• Freestyle
• All-Mountain
• Freeride

Scoring System

Each category above has its own unique scoring system. Again, it’s not useful to have one scoring system that scores and compares every snowboard or every binding or every boot. If you want a snowboard that’s good for riding freestyle, you want to know the specifics of how well it will ride freestyle, which is why we created specific scoring system’s for each different category.

Each scoring system offers different weighting for different factors, depending on how important those factors are for that particular category.

For example, we can see the scoring weightings for the snowboard categories below.

MEET THE CREW

Nate

Snowboarding Profiles was predominantly a one man show for many years. I started the site in 2014, as I felt there was a need for it in the snowboarding community.

Don’t get me wrong there are a number of good snowboard review sites, but I felt there was a way to do it differently.

A way that made things more useful and easier for the average snowboarder to find gear and make sure they got gear that was going to suit them specifically.

In September of 2014 I moved to Vancouver, BC – and I was in search of a new snowboarding setup for myself.

I have to admit, that I’ve always been very picky about what I buy – whether it’s snowboard gear or anything else. And I always did a ton of research and put options in spreadsheets with all the data I could find and was just very thorough to the point of being excessive.

But during my research I couldn’t find anywhere that made it easy for me to come to the right decision. Nowhere where it laid it all out for me for how to choose gear – the various things – and I wanted all the detail.

So, I decided that I would create a website that provided all of that. It started as a side project, and then I got more and more invested and, frankly a little obsessed, with making it as good as I possibly could.

After 7 seasons of testing everything myself (apart from women’s gear, which I hired others to test – following the same testing processes of course), I decided to bring on others. This was partly so we could test more gear and partly because I wasn’t getting any younger. In comes Fraser – who is now going to be our chief snowboard and binding tester from the 22/23 season onwards.

I will still test boots – and other gear, but I’ve handed over the reigns to Fraser for snowboard and binding testing – in full confidence – he’s even better than me at this stuff!

When not snowboarding, I like to watch a wide variety of sports, hang out with my kids and play guitar.

Fraser

After one season of sharing the snowboard testing load, Fraser has become our head Snowboard and binding tester.

He picked up the testing system as if he’d invented it! So fast was his understanding and implementation of it, makes it seem like he’s my clone in the way he can test and analyze gear, only in a younger, less embattled body!

He brings energy youth and a fresh perspective but also a wisdom and quiet confidence to everything he does for Snowboarding Profiles. I had no hesitation to hand off the rains to Fraser when the time came.

Fraser’s Story

Like many, Fraser started his time in the mountains skiing as a kid but almost immediately took a fascination with snowboarding.

He was born and raised in BC riding mountains like Whistler Blackcomb, Mt Baker, and Mt Seymour. His mom was the driving force behind his passion for the mountains and snowboarding as she was the only one in the family who skied and regularly took him and his friends to the mountains.

Like many Canadian kids, he also played hockey which meant finding time to be on the mountain was often difficult. As he grew older though, he began to realize snowboarding was more important than hockey and he began dedicating his life towards it.

Since then, he hasn’t looked back. As soon as he finished high school, Fraser began working at his local snowboard shop. He would spend the next two year’s learning all the in and outs of the snowboard industry and how truly special it is. Throughout these years his addiction for the mountains grew greater.

Spending hours fighting traffic just to get to the mountains grew old. So he decided to pack his things and head for one of the best mountains in the world. Whistler Blackcomb is where he would spend the next year riding everyday and working for another local snowboard shop. Eventually he needed a change from the Whistler lifestyle and made the move back home continuing his previous job and riding the local mountains.

Fast forward to 2021 and Fraser joined us here at Snowboarding Profiles. Confident in all the knowledge he had acquired working in shops he jumped at the opportunity and hasn’t looked back since.

Fraser has now relocated to Revelstoke B.C – known for powder and its varied and steep terrain and this is going to be the location for snowboard and binding testing moving forward. This is an exciting new change for Snowboarding Profiles and we’re all really excited to get started testing on a new mountain and the opportunities that Revelstoke will bring.

When Fraser isn’t snowboarding, he likes to spend my time skateboarding, hiking, camping, and just exploring the mountains with his girlfriend and dog as much as possible.

Jade

Jade has been our women’s snowboard and binding tester since the 2020-2021 season. Replacing the previous tester, Jade was so good to get on board and has now tested a good number of women’s snowboards and bindings to bring a women’s perspective to those models.

Her value, commitment and reliability has been an awesome asset for Snowboarding Profiles.

Jade originally hails from the Yukon, so taking notes on the lift on cold winter testing days was never a big deal for her – in the relatively warm environs of southern BC!

An animal lover and avid cross country skier, when she isn’t snowboarding, Jade loves to be in the outdoors.

Others

We also engage various freelancers to help with the website side for things, graphics, etc. We are very grateful for everyone who has been involved with Snowboarding Profiles so far and for those who will work with us in the future.